TechGremlin
Update 16th January 2010: 1.33b01NA has been released.
Update 2nd November 2009: All users having issues with SharePort, check out this post for the latest information.
Update: Make sure you read the comments below to find out anything new about this feature, many bugs has been fixed since the original release, as of August 2009 Firmware 1.32NA FINAL is the latest firmware, read about it and download it here.
I have owned a D-Link DIR-655 router for the past year and it is by far the best router that I have ever used, although I did pay $150 more than what I have paid for a router before, so I’ve gotten what I have paid for.
Starting with the version 1.21 Beta 04 of the DIR-655 firmware there is now SharePoint functionality available. SharePoint as the media and other sites partially call it or SharePort as it is called everywhere else including the software itself is a way for D-Link products to share a USB device over the LAN, i’m going to try to not confuse you any further so I will refer to it only as SharePort from now on.
SharePort is an interesting feature that I actually wanted to be able to do a few years ago, by sharing USB devices from a computer so they can be used on another PC as if the device was actually plugged into your PC. D-Link have finally brought this technology to life in a limited fashion with SharePort.
This is how SharePort works, I will use my DIR-655 and Brother DCP-150C MFC as an example.
The DIR-655 has a USB port on the back, tests seem to indicate it is a USB 1.1 port, up until now the port was used for wireless settings that could be stored on a USB key.
After installing the new firmware however the USB port has found more use, we’re greeted with a new menu under Setup that controls the use of the port.
As you can see there is not much to the setup of this USB port, WCN Configuration is the default, this is used for the wireless configuration key, choose the dropdown box:
Choosing Network USB puts the router in SharePort mode, choosing 3G USB Adapter is a bit of a mystery to me, I’m not sure what devices are compatible with this yet, however as most people do, I have a 3G service and using it as a backup by only connecting the device up to the USB port and choosing 3G USB Adapter would be very handy.
Once you have chosen Network USB the device is automatically shared, however in order to connect you must install the SharePort software from D-Link, this is still in Beta it appears so use with caution etc etc, I haven’t had a problem with it yet and it seems fairly polished. once it is installed make sure you allow it to run at startup and run it straight away, otherwise you won’t be able to use the device without manually running the SharePort software each time, it only uses 2MB of ram so it’s not a resource hog.
If your USB device is on and connected then the SharePort utility should display like this once you double click on the icon in the system tray. It will then allow you to run through a wizard for installing the device, you will need your device’s driver cd or the latest driver for their website, at the end you will be asked if you want to automatically connect to the device when you print if it is a printer, this is a good idea otherwise you must manually choose to connect.
Once that is all set up on each computer that uses the device, you will notice that each device states that the printer is paused and offline, print to the printer anyway, the SharePort software detects that a print has been sent to the printer and it automatically assigns the printer to your computer and while the printer is communicating with your PC it will show as connected, once the print job has been finished it will then return back to offline, paused.
The limitation of this feature is that it will only work on one PC at a time, USB devices simply aren’t designed to be connected to 2 PCs at once so it makes sense why this is the case.
I have not tried such things as webcams however they have been known to work, however at a slower rate than normal, the scanner feature of my printer works fine, however you must manually connect using the SharePort software to use it, make sure you disconnect after you are done.
As I stated at the start of this article the SharePort software is something I have been waiting a long time for, it’s a great feature considering my router is not the latest out there now and it almost seemed like D-Link had given up adding new features to it, it also shows how well the device can work if it can handle a USB device while it is performing all it’s other duties.
Hi
I have tried do download shareport to my computers, all of them running win xp.
Every time the installation is almost completed, the computer goes into “bluescreen”, and I have to restart it. The same happens again if I try to run the program.
The only time I manage to run the program is when I disconnect any network connection…but then I don’t have much use for the software…
Do any of you have any ideas why my computer crashes??
please reply!
thnx
Find any software that the computers share in common, for example security or Anti-virus software and try disabling them while you do the install and see if it occurs during, some software needs to be uninstalled before it will let it work properly though.
It seems that it may be caused by the network card’s driver or some service running on it like the security software from above.
The easiest way to know for certain what specifically is causing it is to Google search the message that appears in your blue screen, usually just the error code(s) are needed, if it states a .sys file then you can search and find what it’s for.
Usually a driver update can help but if it’s occurring on multiple PCs with different hardware then it’s probably some software conflicting with SharePort, it is very picky and in many cases will not install with certain software installed.
I have DIR-655 firmware 1.21
Network USB Utility 0.93
3 computers on network
2 computers recognize and can connect to the usb printer (an HP Laserjet 1200) through Network USB Utility with no problems.
3rd computer has been able to connect with no problems for months until upgrade to version 1.15 from the program. After install both version 0.93 and 1.15 were present but neither saw the router. Uninstalled 0.93 and 1.15 still did not see router. Uninstalled 1.15 and reinstalled 0.93 and 0.93 still did not see router. Uninstalled 0.93. Removed referrences in HKEY_CURRENT_USER / SOFTWARE / D-Link and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / D-Link to both 0.93 and 1.15. Restored factory default on DIR-655. Reset all settings. Reinstalled 0.93 but still no connection to router.
When right clicking on the red icon in the taskbar on the 3rd computer, the menu does not include the top portion that lists the router name and ip. The top of the box is right above Advanced Options. The router name and ip are present on the 1st and 2nd computers.
I have hit a frustrating dead end. I do not understand why this no longer works on this computer. Other than my previous attempt to upgrade to 1.15 through the network usb utility program itself there are no other software changes on the 3rd computer. I’d be grateful for any ideas on how to fix…
To remove HKEY completely, you may need the Registry cleaner such as http://www.yamicsoft.com/ or I guess you can Restore your system to the old Point before the date you installed 1.15 if that Point is still available in your System Tool / System Restore.
I suspect your 3rd computer must has something not compatible in the Window itself or so ?
I do have restore points prior to the installation of 1.15 but all attempts to restore to these points fail. I will look at the registry cleaner next.
Registry cleaned and defrag’d. Smart uninstaller utilized to ensure Network USB Utility and Shareport completely uninstalled (it did find a registry key I did not previously locate). Unfortunately, after doing a fresh install of the Network USB Utility ver. 0.93 from the disk that came with the router, it still doesn’t display the D-Link Router at the top of the menu displayed when right-clicking on the icon. The utility is still red – not recognizing the network and the utility states no usb devices are connected to the network. I am connected to the network and have internet access. The other computers on the network are recognizing the device and network through the USB Utility. Some fragment of the previous 1.15 install must still be screwing this up…
Even with registry cleaner, sometimes user has to reboot and reclean by two or more passes as my experienced and surprised some still shows up.
Hello – glad I found this thread/forum.
I purchased ( just 2 weeks ago ) a D-Link ( my first ) DIR-628 SPECIFICALLY for the Shareport feature.
I’m running Windows 7 64bit on my main system… and I’ve flashed the router firmware to the latest rev. and have downloaded the latest Shareport util. I’ve been on the phone several times with D-Link ( support ) and they pretty much have given up… with the last word being “Sorry, doesn’t work with Windows 7″… watch for an update to this utility.
I figured I could make this work in a Virtual Machine running WinXP Pro~32bit as the guest OS… still nothing. Is this just a waste of my time and money ? Should I return the router and get a NetGear ?
I’ve never owned a D-Link before… are they a reputable company with good intentions to make their products work ( even if I have to wait for some update ? ) ?
Thanks in advance !
Cheers, Sean
The SharePort Utility works with Windows 7 (x86/x64) just fine, in theory it should always work, it’s just that it is easier for them to say it doesn’t as I don’t think they support Windows 7 officially with their current range of routers yet.
D-Link have made progress with their SharePort software but it takes them a lot of time to fix things and they don’t seem too enthusiastic about it anymore.
D-Link used to be a reputable company with good intentions…
Netgear routers are pretty good, their latest range beat D-Link’s hands down IMO 🙂
I have not been able to fix this problem. I have uninstalled the program using the software at http://www.yamicsoft.com/ and cleaned the registry many, many times. Whatever happened when I chose to upgrade to the SharePort Utility 1.15 from within the Network USB Utility program has modified some file on my computer that is not getting fixed when the program is uninstalled…even when it is all completely uninstalled and the registry cleaned. I know that the failed, attempted upgrade did not modify the router because the other computers in my residence that are using version 0.93 of the Network USB Utility (and which never underwent the attempted upgrade to 1.15) continue to be able to print to the printer connected to the usb port on the router. Its just this, my computer, on which I had attempted the upgrade. I have even installed the software on a laptop and had it wirelessly connected to the router and it could print from the printer. So something has been changed on the computer as a result of the installation of 1.15 that doesnt show up when uninstalling the program. The change has to do with this computer’s recognition of the server ip address because when Network USB Utility 0.93 is reinstalled it fails to recognize the network or list it in the box you get from right clicking the utility icon on the task bar. This computer is connected to the router and does have internet access as this is the computer i am posting this message with. Any ideas on what file may have been modified by 1.15 so I can attempted to fix it. My only other option is a complete reinstall of all my programs on a new hard drive…I would like to avoid that.
i have a dir 655 router firmware 1.30v
shareport v1.15.9 installed on the systems on the network.
am using an hp laserjet 1320 printer
the problem i have is once the shareport is launched i keep getting the pop up message that reads: connection failed! the server is not responding/your internet connection is down.please check and try again later on and on.and i cant seem to print.this message was not coming on before just started i reset the router when i had issues to it.i have uninstalled and reinstalled the shareport on my system but i still get this message.what could be wrong?
also what should be the normal setup,after installing the shareport on your system dou installed the driver for the printer
Jeff, I had the same problem after doing a firmware upgrade on my 635. I had to disable the “auto channel scan” (located in wireless settings) which allowed me to fix the routers channel to channel [x]. I also checked that my “transmission rate” was set to “auto”. HTH
Secondly, with the shareport I can get my 1TB hard drive to work but not my 3 Mobile 3G modem. I believe I have set it up correctly and my ISP is listed in the WWAN ISP dialogue box. Any further tips???
Hi Jeff
I have exactly the same problem. 3 notebooks, 2 work fine with SharePort, one simply refuses to see the router / usb devices. All computers have the same setup, OS, security, but something obviously must be different and I just can’t figure out what it is. I tried everything and I consider myself quite computer savvy. Any success stories from your side in the meantime?
Hi guys, Firmware 1.33b01NA has been released.
I see some of you have got sharepoint to work, good for you. I cant seem to get it to work at all. What a load of bxllxcks! I’m in the UK and have 1.21EU firmware and tried to use 1.15 sharepoint sofware, the router is Version A5. I just get a series of what sounds (like a usb device being plugged in and then out). As a wireless router it is good but I have to say I didnt do enough research and was expecting the usb port to work. Don’t buy this thing if you need a NAS style sharing thing. I haven’t tried my printer and probably won’t waste my time doing so.
I had a similar problem. Turned out to be the Windows Firewall, of all things.
Check out:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=9786.0
I have a DLink DIR-635 also with an usb sharepoint/port but I cannot find the sharepoint software, or how to use this
where can I find it?
thanks
Firmaware and SharePort Utility for D-LINK D-635:
http://www.dlink.com.au/tech/Download/download.aspx?product=DIR-635&revision=REV_B&filetype=Firmware
Question – rather than have one device operate from 3 computers, can you operate 3 devices (laser, inkjet and storage) from one computer using a usb 2.0 4 point hub (for example) on the router?
Do i need to install printer drivers on all my computers using the shareport printer? Seems like there are no working printer drivers (Canon LBP 2900) on my laptop running under Win 7 64-bit version. Are there any solutions?